A good opportunity was here offered, by comparing our voyage with that of the Sea-Flower, of proving the superiority of the inshore route: the Mermaid left Port Jackson on the 12th July, and passed Booby Island on the 16th August, which is an interval of thirty-five days; from this fifteen must be deducted for the delays occasioned by the survey; namely, at Port Bowen two days, at Endeavour River nine days, at Lizard Island, Cape Flinders, Haggerston's Island, and the Possession Islands, one day each; this leaves twenty days for our passage, being two days shorter than the Sea-Flower's. This comparison therefore is in favour of the inshore route. But it is not only superior to the passage without the reefs, from its being shorter, there are also other advantages: the principal of which are that the weather is more generally fine; the sea is always perfectly smooth; and wood or water may be procured upon various parts of the coast: with only common attention there is no risk; and however laboriously the day may be spent the night is passed without disturbing the crew; for safe and good anchorage may be taken up every night under the lee of an islet or a reef, which in the event of bad weather may be retained as long as is requisite or convenient. No time is lost by the delay, for the anchor may be dropped in the ship's immediate track; and if the cargo consists of live animals such as horses, cattle, or sheep, grass may be obtained for them from the islands near the anchorage. In the outer passage the sea is strewed with numerous reefs, many yet unknown,* which render the navigation at night extremely dangerous; and if, on approaching the part where it is intended to enter the reefs, the weather should be thick, and the sun too clouded at noon to procure an observation for the latitude, the navigator is placed in a very anxious and a very unenviable situation; for the currents are so strong that the position of the ship is by no means sufficiently known to risk running to leeward to make the reefs. The ensuing night must therefore in all probability be passed in the greatest uncertainty and in the vicinity of extensive coral reefs. (*Footnote. When this sheet was in the press an account was published in one of the daily newspapers (Morning Herald 3rd of March 1825) recording the discovery of some low coral islands and reefs by the ship Avon, September 18, 1823, in latitude 19 degrees 40 minutes South, longitude 158 degrees 6 minutes East.)